Nightmares
by thequeenssavior
Summary: There isn't much I can say about this without spoiling it, so you'll have to read it for yourself ;)


She's driving. The car is going faster than it's even gone before. Regina is screaming at her _"Slow down! Emma _please _slow down you're going to kill us! _Emma_!", _Neal is hugging Henry tightly to him, while the boy sobs. She can somehow hear Mary Margaret too, even though her mother isn't in the car with them. She hears her mom plead with her, asking her to slow down. She wants to. She's trying and she keeps telling them that but her feet just won't answer to her, her hands just won't leave the wheel. Suddenly Regina quiets down, and that's when it happens. There's a truck going straight at them, and everything goes black.

* * *

Emma is woken up by Neal. He's hovering over her, his hand grabbing her by the arms. Regina's face is over his shoulders, and they both look worried. "You're fine, you're both fine, it wasn't real, I didn't- Oh _god-" _That's all Emma says before she starts sobbing, and both her partners bring her in for a hug.

"I'm going to make you some hot cocoa, ok?" Neal says a while after Emma quiets down. She's got dried tears on her face, and she's pretty sure she's ruined someone's shirt.

"Come on, Emma, let's go to the bathroom and get your face cleaned." Regina is softly pulling her arm, and she follows without a word. She cleans her face while the other woman watches over her from the doorframe with a soft smile.

"I love you, Emma Swan. I always will." Emma looks up, and it's a bit weird because normally she or Neal are the ones that do that. That give random love declarations like that. But soon Regina's walking up to her and kissing her softly, so softly it's almost not there. "Let's go."

* * *

When they get to the kitchen there are four cups on the counter and Neal is sitting beside Henry, both of them laughing.

"Henry!? What are you doing here, did I wake you up?" Henry smiles at her the same way Regina was doing upstairs.

"It's alright, Ma. I just missed you. I miss you so much." There are tears in her eyes, but she doesn't know why.

"I didn't mean to wake you kid, I'm sorry." Emma says, but before she can sit Regina turns her around, and looking straight into her eyes she says, "It wasn't your fault, Emma. It was _not _your fault. It's nobody's fault, alright?" with such intensity Emma stops breathing for a while.

The moment is passes very quickly, and then they're all drinking their cocoas. Henry keeps talking about how they're happy, as if he's trying to reassure Emma. She doesn't understand why they _wouldn't _be happy, but she also doesn't question him.

Emma feels so full in that moment, sitting in her kitchen with her family, and they're all _so happy. _But something's off. She doesn't know what, but something's just wrong.

"Come Emma, I'll take you to bed. You need to rest." Neal is looking at Emma as if she was about to break. She remembers being 17 and having the worst fever she's ever had, when they only had the back of the bug, and that's the way Neal looked at her then.

He hugs her when they get to their room. He hugs her so tightly she thinks he might break one of her ribs. "You have to take care of yourself, Ems. We love you _so much, _and I wish we were could help you, but we can't. " He pushes away just enough for them to look at each other "You have to promise me you'll take care of yourself." She doesn't understand why they're talking to her like that, why Neal looks so worried. "_Emma. _You have to promise me, babe."

"I'm fine, Neal." Her throat suddenly closes up and she feels like crying as hard as she can.

Neal puts a hand on her cheek, and it makes her breathe again. "For me, Emma. For us. Promise."

"I promise."

Neal carries her to bed, and as soon as her head hits the pillow she's asleep.

* * *

Emma sits up in her bed, tears already streaming down her face. As soon as the first sob escapes her the bed dips and there are arms around her. "I know, Emma, I know." Emma hugs her mother as tightly as she can, her head resting on Mary Margaret's shoulder. "Shh, we're going to get through this, Em."

"They were _just _here, we were so happy-!"

"I know, baby, I know..." Emma wants to tell her about the dream, she wants to scream about how unfair this all is, she wants to tear the word apart. But Mary Margaret hugs her closer, and she remembers her dream. She remembers her family telling her they love her, and Emma thinks maybe things might just be ok again one day.

It's not long until Emma is asleep again, and Mary Margaret gets out of bed. That's when she notices the crumpled newspaper on the bed. She picks up up, but can't read it till the end.

_**Storybrooke Daily Mirror **_

_**Afternoon edition - 22nd of October 2014**_

_**Mayor and family killed in car crash, on their way to Portland. **_

_The mayor, Regina Mills, was in the car with her son, Henry, and one of her partners, Neal Cassidy. The family was on it's way to Portland, where Emma Swan was for a seminary, to surprise her for her birthday when a truck coming the other way lost control and hit the car, crushing it to-_

**A/N: **I know. I hate myself too. I broke my golden rule "Never ever kill the kid".

Special thanks to 'lostboybae' over on tumblr for reading this over for me! Thanks dear, ❤

The story was inspired by this prompt, as always taken from otpprompts on tumblr:

_"Imagine Person A waking up from a terrible nightmare, completely terrified and shaking. Person B assures them it was only a dream before pulling A into their arms, lulling them to sleep. Moments later, A's alarm clock goes off, waking them up. That's when A remembers: Person B died years ago."_


End file.
